rookie roast!

after my rugby team's AWESOME GAME where we won 59-0, i had a drink with the girls and ate some dinner, but all i could think about was my pot roast!! i had started it before the game and it had been cooking for about 10 hours in the slow cooker. let me just tell you: the meat was like butter. so good!

i had never cooked pot roast before, so i did some research online into different recipes for preparing it. i saw a lot of things i liked in different recipes, and eventually i decided to pull a couple things from each one and just see how it turned out. let me just say, in the words of RR (rachael ray), YUM-O!


erica's rookie pot roast

2 - 2 1/2 lbs. chuck roast (i used bone-in)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped
1 large onion (red or yellow), thinly sliced
2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
12-15 large mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp ground mustard
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups water
extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
kosher salt & pepper

combine the chopped garlic and rosemary on your cutting board and mince together. put a good teaspoon of kosher salt onto the mixture on your board and start pasting the garlic and rosemary with the side of your knife. once it has become pasty, preheat a large skillet on the oven with some evoo. using a paring knife, poke about 1 inch into the roast at random points on all sides. stuff the garlic-rosemary paste into these incisions. salt & pepper both sides of the roast generously. when the oil in the skillet is super hot, put the roast into it and brown the meat on all sides, allowing it to develop a nice brown crust.

after the meat is seared, put it into the bottom of the slow cookers. throw in the onions, carrots, mushrooms, ground mustard, and some salt & pepper. pour the wine, beef stock, and water into the slow cooker as well. put the slow cooker on the lowest setting and allow to cook overnight (about 8 hours). when it's done, it'll fall off the bone and melt in your mouth, i promise!!!

man, i'm hungry for some more pot roast now...

it's friday...hooray!

fridays are awesome for a multitude of reasons.

1) it's the end of the work week.

2) in the spring, it means i have a rugby game the next day (and tomorrow it'll probably be in the rain!)

3) every other friday is my grocery shopping day!

i've made it a point to only go grocery shopping once every 2 weeks. the reason is that so many times i have all this food i buy that gets tucked away somewhere in the fridge or pantry and ends up going bad. what a waste of money! by only going to the store every other week (and no in between trips, unless it's a special occasion of some sort - i.e. superbowl), i've been saving money, actually eating all (or most) of the food that i purchase, and coming up with new recipes to use up whatever ingredients i have left. not a bad deal, in my opinion.

i always scour the ralphs weekly ad and decide what i'm going to buy based on their sales. i just got my ralphs reward packet for this month, and i received a $9 certificate...woohoo! i also had a bevy of coupons to use, so i was super stoked about that. this week, both beef flap meat and chuck roast were on sale. i'm making some pot roast in the slow cooker tonight (which i've never done), so i'll let you know how that turns out tomorrow. for tonight's dinner though, i thought i would make some awesome fajitas! i had never used flap meat before, so i looked at some different recipes online. it seemed like i could use it similarly to a flank steak, which is why i decided to make fajitas with it. my friends cmoore and melinski came over for our hot dinner date, complete with an on demand viewing of buffy the vampire slayer.

here is my new fajita recipe for you. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!! i'm even going to share my guacamole recipe with you, which is the crown jewel of my party offerings. feel special, y'all.

friday fajitas!!! ole!!!

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs beef flap meat (flank steak can be substituted)

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped

1 bunch cilantro, 1/2 of the bunch chopped

1 lemon

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp cumin

3 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

2 avocados

1 large roma tomato, chopped

1 large red onion, 1/4 of it finely diced, the

rest thinly sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 lime (i used lemon, but only because i still have 1/2 a treeful from karl)

8 whole wheat tortillas

salsa

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream (optional)

combine the garlic cloves, 1/2 the jalapeno, 1/2 bunch of cilantro, and cumin in a blender. blend these ingredients together. add the juice of the lemon, vinegar, and olive oil with salt & pepper and blend again. put the marinade inside a gallon ziploc bag with the meat. put the meat in the fridge and let it hang out for 45 minutes.

while the meat is marinating, prepare your guacamole. in a bowl, combine the avocado, finely diced 1/4 of the red onion, the remainder of the jalapeno (finely diced), remainder of the chopped cilantro, chopped tomato, lime juice, and salt & pepper. mash all the ingredients together. (i like using my hands because i can still leave the guac chunky and avoid squishing all the tomatoes in the guac.) taste and adjust seasoning as needed. set aside.

preheat the oven to 300. before grilling the meat, pull it out of the fridge and let it take the chill off for about 5-10 minutes. heat a grill pan to screaming hot on high heat. place meat on the grill. DO NOT MOVE THE MEAT. let it get the yummy caramelization going. cook the steak for about 6-7 minutes per side for medium rare. after you take the meat off the grill, let it rest on the cutting board for about 5 minutes.

while the meat is cooking, wrap the tortillas in some foil and place in the oven to warm.

while the meat is resting, put the sliced red onions and bell peppers on the grill where the meat had been grilled. again, let the veggies sit for a bit to developed some nice grill marks and color. season with salt & pepper and grill until they look nice and charred. put into a bowl/platter.

after the meat has rested, slice the meat thinly against the grain so it doesn't end up chewy. mix in the meat with the peppers and onions. serve with the warmed tortillas, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, and cheese. OLE!!!

MEAT. specifically, beef.

i love meat.  meat is awesome.  unfortunately, i'm on a "stop being a fatass" eating plan, so i've had to restrict the amount of beef that i consume on a regular basis.  that said, everyone needs a cheat day.  superbowl weekend was mine.  

the one thing that i'm probably known for in my office (besides my guacamole) is my korean bbq.  i started making it a few years ago after i made my mother teach me how to concoct the yummiest of all beef dishes.  luckily, it's also one of the easiest recipes ever.  you can use this marinade for any cut of beef you'd like, but if you want to go the traditional route, beef short ribs (sliced through the bone and pictured below) is your best friend.  this scrumptious goodness is kalbi.  the other popular type of meat is the thinly (and i mean THINLY) sliced sirloin, otherwise known as bulgogi.  i personally prefer the short ribs.  although they are messier to eat, the marbling from all the fat around the ribs makes it the meat oh-so-juicy and tender, especially when cooked on the grill.

me with a small part of the 15 lbs of superbowl meat (photo courtesy of my buddy tony)

alright, enough yapping.  here's the recipe:

korean bbq goodness

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup 7-up

1/4 cup sesame oil

chopped garlic, to taste

scallions, to taste

black pepper, to taste

2 lbs BEEF.

mix all the marinade ingredients (everything but the beef) in a large bowl of some sort.  then, dunk your meat in.  make sure every rib gets nice and saucy.  you can let the meat marinate in the fridge for up to two days (which i HIGHLY recommend), then crank up the grill and cook those babies up.

i'd actually recommend making extra marinade if you're going to let them chillax for a couple days so the beef has lots of tasty goodness to soak up.  

superbowl sunday ended up being pretty awesome.  we successfully consumed 15 lbs of korean bbq (there were 13 people there), and my co-worker's dogs had a field day with the bones.  between the beef and holmes' amazing touchdown, i was a happy gal, as was my tummy (named bartholomew).